Forum - View topicREVIEW: The Ghost In The Shell (TV Event Preview) Anime Review
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 19149 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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The first movie was my secondary gateway title (Akira got me interested in anime, but this is the one which elevated me to a hard-core fan) and I consider GiTS:SAC one of the all-time great anime series, so I feel obligated to give this new version a fair shot. However, based on the description here, I have serious doubts I'll like it, no matter how good the technical side may be.
What Kevin describes as a flaw in the movie - how cold and emotionless it was - was exactly the characteristic which most caught my attention. This was serious sci fi; it didn't play around or crack jokes, like most animation at that time did. There was an elegance to its brutality and a gritty realism to its aesthetic. When I tried reading the source manga a few years later, I bounced off it hard because Motoko might as well have been an entirely different character and everything felt too colorful, too flippant. So I guess I'm in the (possibly small?) minority who see this series being absolutely faithful to the manga as a big negative rather than a positive. But I have liked characters like the manga's version of Motoko in other titles, so maybe this version will eventually grow on me. And I'm definitely looking forward to hearing how the new English dub matches up to the older ones. |
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Flared
 Posts: 117 Location: United Kingdom |
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Just came back from seeing this preview myself. It's an incredible adaptation and it's amazing to see Shirow's Ghost in the Shell finally animated after the best part of 40 years.
The colourful presentation especially really brings everything to life in a way the series has never really had (apart from the PS1 game cutscenes), and I can't help but feeling that this was partly chosen to contrast against the previous dark & gritty adaptations by Oshii etc. Pacing is great too, even with decent amounts of tech and political exposition It was a weird and anti-climactic place to stop the preview, but it does make me look forward to the broadcast more. Also, even as someone who went in very open-minded about the more goofy characters, first off it is a little jarring after decades of a serious Major seeing one acting so animated (pun unintended). However once you get accustomed to it, it's a fantastic ride. |
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MFrontier
Posts: 20109 |
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As someone whose first experience with the franchise was the original manga, I'm definitely looking forward to a manga-accurate adaption!
That being said, the dub seems solid, but I'm genuinely surprised how close to the vest they're keeping the Japanese cast (even if it's kind of already leaked, at least who is voicing the Major). I guess it probably has to do with Atsuko Tanaka's passing and how iconic the original seiyuu are. |
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thecritter
Posts: 120 Location: Northwest GA |
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This review gives me great hopes for the newest GITS.
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Hellsoldier
 Posts: 1166 Location: Porto,Portugal,Europe,Earth,Sol |
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This might work better for me. The core of my formative anime experience includes Akira and both the Ghost in the Shell movies and S.A.C.. But it all started with Bubblegum Crisis for me. So, whilst clearly and obviousy different, this GitS is probably closer in spirit to Bubblegum Crisis, with that hyperkinetic 80's OVA energy. I'm down. |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 10368 Location: Virginia |
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I read the manga version of Ghost in the Shell first and enjoyed it tremendously. I followed up by hunting down all of Shirow's works I could find. As a result I came to the first movie as Shirow fan. I always considered the movie adequate to good but felt it lacked a lot of what I enjoyed in the original. The movie took one aspect of a complex character and dropped the rest. This included a lot of Shirow's world building. I assumed that this was necessary to shoehorn the series into a movie, but in retrospect it may have simply been the director.
This review gives me hope that I may finally see the story I enjoyed so much animated. |
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prime_pm
 Posts: 2490 Location: Your Mother's Bedroom |
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I understand people's misgivings about Motoko's character change (or change back technically). After years of being acclimated to cold and emotionless Motoko and how she helped ground the gritty and serious nature of the world, the tonal whip can feel quite jarring.
But over the years I have witnessed NOTHING but super serious action women across so many media. Usually it's the same: a team of badasses grouped together for a job, most of the male side characters are cracking wise and equipping on one another, and then we have the one female of the group (sometimes two or three) and she just snaps at them to take this shit seriously. No nonsense. Get with the program. And I understand why writers do that all the time. They want their female characters to be taken seriously and not just be the "GIRL" of the group. I get it. So they make them super cereal (God, I'm old) and.no nonsense as if they're trying to prove themselves to everyone that they are to be taken serious. And often they take it too far and by doing so they are isolating themselves from their teammates, adding to that whole cold and emotionless caricature they've built upon. And the worst ones are when the cocky male teams with the super serious girl and "teaches" her how to let loose or some bullshit. It is literally that Family Guy segment where the super serious business woman is interrupted by the guy that says "I'm gonna show you how all your problems can be solved with my penis." But I digress. The point is making your female character super serious is meant to portray female agency, but more often it instead can make her come off as one note (not that I'm saying Motoko was EVER one note, just a disclaimer). Case in point: Rei Ayanami used to by my favorite character when I was younger; now that I'm older, she creeps the shit out of me. So I find it a breath of fresh air when I see a female character show some brevity and crack a joke once in a while. And knowing this was Motoko's original character design helps in that. It doesn't mean I'm gonna discredit any of the other GITS works in any capacity (except the Scarlet Johannson movie of course), just that I am willing to accept it independent from its predecessors. So long as she still knows how to kick some ass. Again, disclaimer, this is not a case of telling women to "smile more." God no. If you're mad or sad, be mad or sad. Please do not misinterpret me. Sorry I have to hit people over the head with this, but sadly that's the nature of the internet nowadays. |
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